Unnecessary Risks
by Spit the Devil
Summary: Steve is scared into admitting a very special secret to a certain Jersey boy when a day at the beach goes horribly wrong. Things get a little out of hand as he deals with the consequences of his last-minute revelation.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Unnecessary Risks

**Rating: **M

**Characters/Pairing: **Steve & Danny

**Summary: **Steve is scared into admitting a very special secret to a certain Jersey boy. Things get a little out of hand as he deals with the consequences of his last-minute revelation.

**A/N:** Totally going out on a whim here guys. Please bear with me and my run-on sentences and total lack of knowledge about anything Hawaii-related. Slash because you can't have Steve without Danno, and you can't have Danno without Steve. And we all know what that _really_ means.

* * *

Danny rolled his eyes, heaving an exasperated sigh as the rest of his team frolicked about the beach like a couple of downright two year olds. Sure, the scenery was fit for a postcard with its fine, white sand and turquoise waters, but from where Danny sat in his shadowy little corner, it all looked like a big waste of time. Time that could be spent at his house, googling pictures of Jersey or cleaning and getting ready for Gracie's next big visit. Or something.

Danny stuck his full lower lip out in a pout, leaning back in his chair so that he could reach out and grab his near-empty bottle of sunscreen. Somehow, Steve had coaxed him out of his suit and tie and into a pair of grossly patterned swim trunks, but not even the precariously positioned umbrella and canopy of leaves above him could stop the Jersey cop from lathering on that lotion like his life depended on it.

Squirting some out into his palm, Danny listened to Kono's weirdly girlish shrieks as Chin splashed her with water. With those tanned, toned bodies, they all looked like they were out of a copy of Sports Illustrated. And the pure beauty and simplicity of it all just irritated Danny to no end.

If he could just slip out of this slatted beach chair and disappear, unnoticed, into the foliage surrounding the beach, maybe, just _maybe_ he would then buy himself enough time to get into his car and drive off into the sunset towards his beloved, air-conditioned apartment.

There were a lot of ifs running through Danny's mind at this particular time, although all of them seemed almost entirely implausible, given the circumstances. This wasn't because he was lazy and blah, blah blah was just too full of complaints and witty comebacks to even move. No, it was because even though Steve was laughing and riding waves like he had lived his life in the water, the trained Navy Seal managed to keep an eye on the pint-sized detectives. At. All. Times.

Deciding it was time to take some action, growling Navy Seal guard dog or not, Danny hoisted himself out of the chair and dropped the sunscreen onto his towel. So far he had not ventured out into the heat of the sun, and even though Steve had warned him, nothing could prepare the mainlander for the blistering heat as the cooled-off soles of his feet made contact with the sand.

Letting out a small, almost comical yelp and stumbling backwards, Danny immediately steadied himself and glared contemptuously over at Steve as if it were his fault that he had just burned his poor little toes off. The detective in question was watching him from the water; laughing at the absurd, all-too-familiar expression of loathing that he received from across the beach.

Shuffling back through shade-covered sand to slip on his flip-flops, Danny mumbled creative expletives under his breath that, to nobody's surprise, did not make him feel any better. More adequately equipped this time, Danny shuffled his way across the beach and towards the water, stopping just before his feet hit the refreshing body of blue and crossing his arms over his chest in a way that sort of resembled a pre-pubescent pout.

"So, since I'm not having any fun and you're not having any fun watching me not have fun, how about we all just call it a day and let Danno-boy head back to his cozy little apartment. Sound good?" he asked, squinting against the sun and trying to look as serious and deadpan and intimidating as possible. Steve stood up in the water, surfboard in hand, sun reflecting off of the little droplets that clung to his muscular chest. The Navy Seal tried very unenthusiastically to stifle a laugh, shaking his head and sending a spray of glistening saltwater in the offending detective's direction.

"C'mon, Danny. Live a little! You're in Hawaii, you don't eat pineapples, you wear button-up shirts and ties to work every day…it wouldn't kill you to loosen up and dip your goddamn toes in the water." Steve said, his tone matching Danny's in false seriousness. Feeling his face heat up, Danny shook his head and rolled his eyes, taking a few steps back as the tide rose and tried coaxing him into its cool, refreshing embrace.

"No, see, that's not how it works. You may think that's how it works, but it's not. I am not in Hawaii to have fun. And I do not swim. It's not that I can't swim, I just. Don't. Swim. You guys can splash around in your little nature pool and abandon whatever questionable maturity you had to begin with, but leave me outta it." Danny said, raising his voice a little to make sure that Steve still heard him over the sound of the waves rolling and crashing.

Steve laughed openly this time, shifting his surfboard to that it rested against his other toned, tattooed arm and waited for Danny to give up and jump in, which he knew would inevitably happen anyway.

Sighing and deciding that his nine-year-old daughter was more mature than his boss and co-workers, Danny puckered his lips out thoughtfully and stared out into the horizon. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He edged a little closer to the water, allowing his flip-flop clad toes o just barley breach the shoreline and leaning in a little more so that Steve could hear him properly. Because, of course, having somebody listen to his little tirades was one of the most important things to Danny.

"Can I at least go to the bathroom?" he asked, his expressive blue eyes still squinting against the sun and trying to look as honest and trustworthy as possible. Steve sighed heavily, realizing that there was no way he could deny the baby-faced detective the right to relieve himself without some sort of retaliation. Several answers sprang into his mind, most of them containing a negative answer followed by an even more negative response, until he settled on the perfect, most logical conclusion.

"Only if I can come with you. That's my only condition." Steve said, his voce steady, if not a little more playful than he meant it to be. He wasn't stupid; he knew exactly what the smaller detective was playing at. He could see it in those earnest blue eyes.

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**A/N: **Love it? Hate it? Let me know! ~I know it's a really awkward way to end the first chapter, but I didn't want to make it too long. It's going to start out a little slow but it eventually picks up, I promise. I'm guessing around the third chapter is when the action really starts. I spellchecked this one hundred times so please let any typos slide, for all our sakes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Unnecessary Risks

**Rating: **M

**Characters/Pairing: **Steve & Danny

**Summary: **Steve is scared into admitting a very special secret to a certain Jersey boy. Things get a little out of hand as he deals with the consequences of his last-minute revelation.

**A/N:** And we're back for round 2! Thanks for the reviews guys! Don't be scared to criticize me, I'm totally open to suggestions. In fact, I prefer them.

To **francis2 **and **FluffNutter**—That shows how glaring some of my plot flaws are, haha! For lack of a better explanation, let's just sum it up to Danno secretly enjoying his time at the beach with the gang and leave it at that.

* * *

Danny's mouth formed an obstinate, irritated line, partly at having the remainder of his dignity totally stripped away, but also because his only plausible escape plan was totally foiled.

"What, are you my babysitter now? I think I'm old enough to go to the bathroom alone, mommy. But thanks for the concern." Danny said, his response comparatively short as he searched for an excuse to go solo.

Steve had already begun climbing out of the water, sticking his surfboard into the sand and shaking off any excess water in a way that was too smoking hot and elegant to be reminiscent of a Labrador Retriever.

Heaving another sigh, Danny rolled his eyes and gave up, deciding he really did have to pee and maybe there was a window he could climb out of or something.

"Fine, fine. You win. Tag along if you want. But you're waiting outside, buddy. I don't want those baby blues eyein' up my man junk." Danny warned, wagging a finger at the taller detective who now had a kiss-ass, shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

On that note, Danny turned on his heels, starting off through the blistering hot sand and towards the more populated part of the beach where the bathrooms were.

Ignoring the shirtless man trotting eagerly behind him with a weird, amused expression on his angular face, Danny sped up a little and soon found himself praising the flip-flops he had put on as he entered the sandy, slightly damp and totally gross bathroom.

True to his word, Steve waited idly outside, his back to the door-less doorway. Danny smirked to himself—the man looked like some big, goofy guard dog, waiting for the slightest scent of trouble in the air.

Whistling softly to himself, the blonde detective was about to head to the urinals, but the state of them made him change his direction last minute as he propelled himself towards one of the stalls. There was a slightly, hot breeze coming from an open window in the stall farthest away from the door; deciding this was his best and only option if he wanted to carry out this little escape mission of his, Danny headed in there and clicked the small lock before lifting the toilet seat and unzipping his pants.

There was the sound of some other people coming in, although none of them went into any of the stalls. Danny couldn't blame them—the stalls themselves smelled like an entire sewer system had imploded or something. Suddenly, Danny heard the telltale click of something terrifyingly familiar; the safety of a gun. His whistling stopped completely and he forced himself to be totally silent as he waited to hear what came next.

"What are you doing with that, bro? Put it away, man, you could get us arrested for waving that thing around," the first voice said, sounding panicked. There was a dry, humorless laugh and the sound of the gun's safety being clicked back into place.

"We can't let that stupid fucking coward bail out on us again, cuz. He better have our shit, man. Either he goes through with the deal or he's going to meet my little friend here," the second voice replied, sounding low and threatening. Danny could only imagine the man waving the gun around like it was some fucking plaything like a wannabe criminal.

Well, this was typical. Leave it to Danno to stumble upon some sort of new age drug deal while shamelessly trying to escape from his team in some dingy bathroom on the beach. Suddenly, everything got strangely quiet and Danny definitely figured that it was time for him to get out of there.

"What the fuck is that? I thought you checked the fucking stalls, bro! What if somebody heard us? You're fucked, man," the second man said, his voice sounding like a hushed sort of hiss. There was the sound of shoes shuffling as they approached Danny's closed stall door.

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**A/N: **Love it? Hate it? Let me know! After the good reviews I'm worried that this chapter won't meet up to your standards! Well, here it is. I'm sorry if the quality of writing isn't as great as it could be, I've been pretty busy lately and just wanted to get this one out there. Just think of the first two chapters as the calm before the storm. I also want to know what you guys think of my characters—do you think I did the characters in the show justice? If not, please let me know what I could do to make it better. Bye guys!


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Unnecessary Risks

**Rating: **M

**Characters/Pairing: **Steve & Danny

**Summary:**Steve is scared into admitting a very special secret to a certain Jersey boy. Things get a little out of hand as he deals with the consequences of his last-minute revelation.

**A/N:** Well, it's only been about a thousand years since I posted that last chapter. I can honestly say that I just did not have any inspiration to keep writing it. Thank you so much for your kind words, I hope this chapter can live up to your expectations and is worth the wait! Please feel free to offer me any suggestions or criticisms, I absolutely love hearing from all of you.

* * *

Thinking fast, Danny climbed on top of the toilet, grabbing onto either sides of the window and hoisting himself up and out. Silently thanking himself for working on his upper arm muscles and not being over five and a half feet tall, the blonde detective shimmied his way out of there and was plummeting down onto the weedy ground just as the tiny lock gave way and the stall door burst open.

Panting slightly, Danny quickly boosted himself up off the ground, realizing he didn't have his gun or his badge as he raced around the small building that housed the bathrooms and nearly crashed into Steve.

Steve's gazed became concerned as it travelled downwards to be met by a frazzled-looking, sand-covered and out of breath Danno. The Jersey boy only allowed his hair to get messed up when he was in a state of emergency.

"So I leave you alone for less than five minutes and you come crawling out from around the corner looking like this? How the hell did you even get over there without me seeing you? Are you alrea-," Steve was suddenly cut off as Danny grabbed onto his bare arm, yanking him backwards and away from the bathroom door just before two suspicious-looking islanders came stalking out, eyes darting uneasily in every direction.

Having spent enough time with Danno to know when to keep his mouth shut, Steve allowed himself to be pulled around the corner and against the wall of the smallish building by the pint-sized detective before he continued his onslaught of questions.

"C'mon Danno, what's all this about?" he asked, voice hushed at the request of his partner. Danny peered around the corner and saw the two men heading off in the direction of the part of the beach with all of the cabanas. Steve took the small, calm moment between them to marvel at the feeling of Danny's smaller body pressing against his own.

"Those two guys were talkin' about some…some deal or something; one of them had a gun. Talkin' about bustin' a cap in somebody's ass if it didn't go through. Sounded like it was going to get ugly, fast. Probably better to get 'em now and do the questioning later." Danny said breathlessly, peeling himself away from Steve and leaning against the grungy wall for support as he paused to catch his breath.

Steve gnawed on his lower lip thoughtfully, glancing around the corner and watching their two novice criminals' slow progress as they trekked through thick sand. "You really think it's worth tailing them?" he asked, glancing down at the smaller detective and cocking an eyebrow. But Danny was already bolting after the men, flailing his arms like a crazy person.

"Hawaii PD, put your hands up!" he shouted, running in with just his gun and wearing absolutely nothing but a swimsuit. Steve's eyes widened as he hurried after his partner, hating the role reversal as he found himself bounding helplessly after his reckless partner and hoping for the best. There was no sign of the men stopping, so Steve took the vital ten seconds it took to sprint to Danny's little set-up with the huge umbrella and chair and grabbed the first thing he got his hands on; an obnoxiously patterned towel. When he glanced up to see where his partner had run off to, him and the men he had been pursuing had vanished.

"_Dammit_." Steve growled through his teeth.

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**A/N:** Love it? Hate it? Let me know! Again, I know, slow on the action. It's coming guys, I promise! I just didn't wanna make this chapter too long, but I didn't wanna end it right smack in the middle of all the action. If you have any comments or suggestions for the story I would love to hear them; I'm always open to new ideas! Oh, and try your best to ignore the gaping plot gaps.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Unnecessary Risks

**Rating: **M

**Characters/Pairing: **Steve & Danny

**Summary:**Steve is scared into admitting a very special secret to a certain Jersey boy. Things get a little out of hand as he deals with the consequences of his last-minute revelation.

**A/N:** You were scared I was gonna leave again, huh? Well, I'm here to stay. I tried really hard to take this story slow but I just couldn't stop myself. I'm no doctor, so don't take my words on severe injury to heart and _please_ never mimic whatever fictional medical procedures I come up with in any sort of emergency. Alo keep in mind that I've never been shot before so the viewpoints I'm offering are based off of sheer writer's instinct. But then, I've _also_ never been a vertically challenged Jersey detective with a complex before, yet I seem to make the story work! Well, kinda.

* * *

Steve was glancing around in confusion when he heard it; the fatal sound of a lone gunshot ricocheting off of the trunks of palm trees, echoing on the beach like a fucking death sentence. And Danny had said one of the men was armed.

Danny saw when Steve broke off from the chase to grab something to arm himself, but he couldn't stop. These men were endangering the lives of children on this beach. For all he knew Rachel could be at the beach with Gracie today. Daughters and sons that didn't even know their lives were in danger. The thought pushed him forward, surging through the trees and trusting Steve to come in with some big weapon and blast the bad guys into next year. They were suddenly out in the sandy parking lot, and Danny was nearly on top of the weaker of the two when suddenly the bigger, more reserved man turned with the gun in his hand. Eyes wide, Danny stopped short, raising his hands in semi-surrender. He took a few steps back to give the guy space, the heat of the sun beating down on his bare back and reminding him just how exposed he really was. He slowly inched one of his hands down to the gun he had instinctively placed in the back pocket of his swim trunks.

"Listen, you don't have to do this. If you step down now, the worst you can get is unauthorized possession of a firearm. You don't have to do this. We can forget this whole thing ever happened." Danny said, lying through his pearly whites. He felt his hand make contact with the cool handle of the gun. He clasped his fingers around it and watched for any sign of surrender, but there was none.

Obviously, the other man saw right through it because instead of doing anything the blonde detective said, he stared, unblinking, as his finger bounced back on the trigger and the sound of a single gunshot cut through the air, overpowering the calm tranquility created by the gentle lapping of waves against the sandy shore. Danny had whipped his own gun out at this point, firing a hasty and poorly-aimed shot and hearing the sound of a bullet tearing through flesh. His opponent wavered but instead of watching the man go down, Danny felt himself stagger backwards in surprise, hearing a grunt that he realized had come from his own mouth.

Eyes widening to the size of saucers, he glanced down in what felt like slow motion to see a quickly growing stain of red on the soft part of his lower abdomen. That couldn't be his body…surely he would have felt something, after watching a bullet tear through his own flesh? He flicked his eyes lethargically up to watch the two criminals retreating, and suddenly he was on the ground, feeling the grating texture of sandy gravel beneath his bare back.

People around him were screaming and he wanted to tell them all to shut up, that he was going to be fine and everything was okay, but when he opened his mouth his voice refused to cooperate. He heard a pathetic whimper instead of words filling the air around him as he began seeing double. Was that him? That stupid little noise? All other sound seemed to drown out and echo around him, sounding empty and hollow as he struggled to sit back up.

His arms flailed weakly and he grimaced at his own meager attempt when he felt two strong arms pin him down by his shoulders. Panic rising, he worried that the men had come back for him, to deliver that final headshot that would surely be the end of him. He writhed around, trying to escape the vice-like grip as he started seeing spots and his vision became clouded by a scary gray-black that he couldn't blink away.

"Leggo…gerroffame…" he managed, his words sounding much less assertive and intimidating than he thought they would. He almost sounded drunk, the vowels slurring together in a jumbled, indistinguishable mess.

"Steve…Steve help!" Danny exclaimed, calling for the partner he knew would have surely come to his aid by now. He was fine. It was just a flesh wound. All he needed was some space and fresh air.

"Danno. Danny, you idiot, it _is_ Steve!" a voice argued back, sounding irritated and impatient and a few other emotions that Danny couldn't really place. Blinking hard, Danny tried focusing his vision long enough to make out the blurry outline of his partner's face hovering above his own. He squinted, lifting his head up off the ground as if to get a better look.

"...Steve?" he asked incredulously, as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world that Steve would be there with him; as if he hadn't been pining for his partner in crime just moments ago. "When did you get here? You look alilfunny..." Danny said, saying the last part in an almost-whisper, as if he didn't want to embarrass Steve by saying it out loud.

"Jesus, watch that left hook, Danno. I think you gave me a black eye." For some reason, Danny found this hilarious. He felt a goofy, lopsided grin make its way across his face as he realized he was finally not the one left to play babysitter after a mission gone totally South. Take that, ex-Navy-Seal-superspecialarmyman. Suddenly, he felt something hot making its way up his throat and before he knew it he was on his knees, doubling over and vomiting all over the parking lot.

He felt a pressure in between his shoulder blades, as if somebody were rubbing his back. The thought made him smile a little; it reminded him of the time when Gracie was sick with a stomach virus. It sounded twisted, being happy that your kid was sick, but it was just one of those special feelings reserved for single parents with limited visitation rights only. He remembered holding her hair as she clung to the toilet seat, massaging her back and then carrying her back to his pullout-couch bed and nursing her back to health with pre-made chicken noodle soup.

His thoughts were interrupted and he was retching again, that feeling of hotness filling his mouth and his throat and making him very aware to all of the noises around him; the sound of thick liquid slapping against pavement, the sound of an annoying voice nagging at the back of his mind, worrying him relentlessly and working against the feeling of calm that was slowly spreading through the smaller detective's body.

"Danny. Danny! You're okay, just hang in there, all right? No, Danny, stay with me, buddy! You can't go to sleep just yet, okay? You can't go to sleep yet..." the voice was cut off as his vision went and he felt himself floating in a vast, endless pit of blackness, finding blessed relief within the thoughtless bonds of unconsciousness.

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**A/N: **Love it? Hate it? Let me know! This one was sort of a shot in the dark for me (no pun intended, heh), so _please_ send me any criticisms you may have! I'm always open to new ideas—in fact, I live for them. I want to make this the absolute best it can be. Ooh, and get ready for fluffy Steve revelations soon!


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